LONDON, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Britain's Tony Blair won a vote on Wednesday on his government's controversial school reforms in the House of Commons, although there was a significant Labor rebellion against the prime minister.

    The Education Bill was backed by 458 to 115 with those against including 52 Labor rebels.

    The scale of the revolt meant that Blair had to rely on Conservative votes to get his legislation through its second reading in the House of Commons.

    Although the bill was passed by a comfortable majority of 343, Blair's critics said his dependence on support from the Tories cast his leadership of Labor into question.

    Tories said the vote had shown "a divided Labor Party that can't deliver public service reform, and a united Conservative Party that can".

    Education Secretary Ruth Kelly said she had spoken to Blair after the vote and he was "delighted three out of four Labor lawmakers supported this Bill, more than three out of four and that it commanded such a big majority in the House of Commons".

    Ahead of a stormy six-hour debate in the Commons, Blair used an appearance at Prime Minister's Questions to make a last-minute appeal for the backing of his party's lawmakers.

    The measure giving schools greater freedom from local authority control was "a Labor Bill and should be supported by Labor MPs (Members of Parliament)", he said.

    Ministers had spent most of the day trying to win over rebels ahead of the key votes.

    Conservatives, Lib Dems and some Labor rebels failed in their attempt to sabotage the government's timetable for further debates on the plans and prolong detailed scrutiny for weeks.

    The government won the timetable vote by 300 to 290, with its majority cut to just 10. Enditem